{"id":4475,"date":"2018-02-13T11:05:16","date_gmt":"2018-02-13T11:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=4475"},"modified":"2018-02-13T11:05:16","modified_gmt":"2018-02-13T11:05:16","slug":"bulletin-edition-january-2018-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=4475","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Edition January 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"
THEY ARE GONE!<\/pre>\n
I want every child of God to realize the fact that at this very moment<\/pre>\n
all of his sins are gone \u2013 effectually, completely, perfectly gone, -<\/pre>\n
through the great sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of your sins,<\/pre>\n
from the cradle to the grave, sins before conversion and sins after<\/pre>\n
conversion, and sins of every kind are washed away in Immanuel\u2019s<\/pre>\n
precious blood. Since Christ has died in our stead, under the sentence<\/pre>\n
of God\u2019s law, we shall never be charged with sin. God has removed our<\/pre>\n
sins from his book, from his memory, and from us. In Christ we have been<\/pre>\n
freed from sin. \u201cAs far as the east is from the west, so far hath he<\/pre>\n
removed our transgressions from us\u201d (Psa. 103:112). Stephen Charnock<\/pre>\n
said, \u201cWhen sin is pardoned, it is never charged again; the guilt of it<\/pre>\n
can no more return than east can become west, or west become east.\u201d<\/pre>\n
Spurgeon said, \u201cOur sins are so effectually removed that we shall not<\/pre>\n
ultimately suffer any loss or damage through having sinned. That<\/pre>\n
detriment was laid on Christ. His was the loss: ours is the gain. His<\/pre>\n
was the suffering: ours is the unutterable joy.\u201d And God himself says,<\/pre>\n
\u201cI, even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions, and will not<\/pre>\n
remember thy sins\u201d (Isa. 43:25).<\/pre>\n
Did you hear what Jesus said to me?<\/pre>\n
They\u2019re all taken away, away.<\/pre>\n
Your sins are pardoned and you are free,<\/pre>\n
They\u2019re all taken away!<\/pre>\n
Don Fortner.<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
In all spiritual things all your temptations, all your darkness, all<\/pre>\n
your wanderings God will overrule. It shall be well with you. There<\/pre>\n
shall never be a night, but that morning shall come; there shall never<\/pre>\n
be a day of trouble, but a day of prosperity shall follow; there shall<\/pre>\n
never be an emptying, but there shall be a filling; there shall never be<\/pre>\n
a bringing down, but that He will raise you up again. Let it be either<\/pre>\n
darkness or light, sorrow or grief, night or day, life or death, time or<\/pre>\n
eternity, \u201cIt shall be well with the righteous.\u201d - Scott Richardson<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
The Good Light<\/pre>\n
Genesis 1: 4-5<\/pre>\n
The Light God saw and called good from before the foundation of the<\/pre>\n
world, that Light which separates his children out of darkness into his<\/pre>\n
marvelous light, which makes his newly created children to be children<\/pre>\n
of the Day and no longer children of the night, is Christ Jesus the<\/pre>\n
Light. As the Word creates us anew in spirit, so the Lord shall create<\/pre>\n
our bodies anew when he returns (1 Corinthians 15: 5-57). So too, the<\/pre>\n
new heavens and new earth shall be his righteous creation (Revelation<\/pre>\n
21: 1-7).<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
Brethren, we spent the days of our darkness looking at creation (even<\/pre>\n
religious traditions) trying to understand God. But when God gives the<\/pre>\n
Light of Christ we look to God and then understand creation. \u201cThe sun<\/pre>\n
shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon<\/pre>\n
give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting<\/pre>\n
light, and thy God thy glory\u201d (Is 60: 19).Clay Curtis.<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
The Great Darkness Of Light<\/pre>\n
Tommy Robbins<\/pre>\n
\u201cBut if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If<\/pre>\n
therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that<\/pre>\n
darkness!\u201d Matthew 6:23<\/pre>\n
The eye that cannot see is in bondage to that which is within. Someone<\/pre>\n
that has never had the gift of sight has no visual concept of anything<\/pre>\n
outside himself. Therefore there is nothing but darkness. This condition<\/pre>\n
is so natural and fixed that this is the way of life for him. There is<\/pre>\n
no hope for anything different except for a miracle. And even then this<\/pre>\n
must be wrought by a power other than his own.<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
This is the case of all mankind Spiritually. How great is that darkness?<\/pre>\n
Complete! No light at all! The Spiritual light that is in man by virtue<\/pre>\n
of our fallen nature is great and total darkness. Newton described it<\/pre>\n
this way - \u201cI once was lost, but now am found; Was blind, but now I<\/pre>\n
see\u201d. This great darkness can only be attributed to blindness. The only<\/pre>\n
way that this horrible condition can be reversed is by a miracle of<\/pre>\n
God\u2019s grace - AMAZING GRACE! Those who live and remain in darkness<\/pre>\n
cannot see the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. They cannot<\/pre>\n
see the truth of God. They cannot see Christ crucified. They cannot see<\/pre>\n
themselves in the light of God\u2019s Word.<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
Spiritual blindness is far greater and worse than physical blindness.<\/pre>\n
Those who are Spiritually blind would have it no other way. They love<\/pre>\n
it! - \u201cThis is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and<\/pre>\n
men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.\u201d<\/pre>\n
John 3:19. A sight of the Lord Jesus Christ is the last thing they want.<\/pre>\n
But, thanks be unto God, if and when Christ reveals Himself to them, He<\/pre>\n
is all they want! A sight of HIM makes all the difference between great<\/pre>\n
darkness and great light. How great is THAT LIGHT? - \u201cFor God, who<\/pre>\n
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts,<\/pre>\n
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of<\/pre>\n
Jesus Christ.\u201d 2Co 4:6 - GREATER THAN THE DARKNESS!<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
BELIEVE YE<\/pre>\n
Believe ye that I am able to do this?\u201d (Matthew 9:28).<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
This was a question the Lord asked two blind men regarding His ability<\/pre>\n
to give them sight. Their answer was, \u201cYea, Lord.\u201d Here we are given an<\/pre>\n
illustration of what faith really is.<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
Faith is not believing you are saved, or believing that God loves you<\/pre>\n
and Christ died for you, or believing all of your sins are forgiven, or<\/pre>\n
believing you are perfect in God\u2019s sight. These things belong to the<\/pre>\n
realm of assurance. Faith is neither more nor less than believing that<\/pre>\n
He is able to save you. Paul said in II Timothy 1:12, \u201cI am persuaded<\/pre>\n
that He is able\u2026.\u201d Assurance that you are saved and all of your sins are<\/pre>\n
forgiven will come out of that, but the actual act of faith is believing<\/pre>\n
He is able. If you lack assurance, perhaps you have never really<\/pre>\n
believed that \u201cHe is able.\u201d Believing He is able will lead to the<\/pre>\n
assurance of these things, because you are relying upon His ability, and<\/pre>\n
not your own.<\/pre>\n
Todd Nibert<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
Faith<\/pre>\n
It is a blessing to experience those times when all seems well and faith<\/pre>\n
comes easily, when it seems the very air is filled with the presence of<\/pre>\n
the Lord. Such times are a blessing, but they are no proof of true<\/pre>\n
faith. Faith is proven when it endures the HARD times. When the heart is<\/pre>\n
broken, the mind confused, and the body weak, then is faith put to the<\/pre>\n
test and proven whether it be genuine. When faith survives those times<\/pre>\n
when there is NO FEELING to verify it, NO EVIDENCE to confirm it, and NO<\/pre>\n
FLESHY ENERGY to sustain it, then and only then can we discover that we<\/pre>\n
have that faith that is \u201cthe gift of God,\" God\u2019s gifts are \"without<\/pre>\n
repentance,\u201d and this is as true of faith as any of His other gifts. We<\/pre>\n
know we have believed when we never repent of our faith, but believe in<\/pre>\n
the very face at all that is opposed to faith. This is the trial and<\/pre>\n
proof of faith. --<\/pre>\n
Joe Terrell<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
A child of God is like a person in a beautiful palace; if there is light<\/pre>\n
in it, he sees the splendid objects around him, and enjoys them; but if<\/pre>\n
the light is removed, he is nevertheless in the palace still, and<\/pre>\n
surrounded with the same splendid objects as before, though he cannot<\/pre>\n
see them. So, though the believer\u2019s frames and sensible comforts may<\/pre>\n
have their ebbs and flows, his state, Godward, is invariably the same.<\/pre>\n
\u2013Augustus Toplady<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
Brethren, catch this one phrase, God \u201ccommanded the light to shine out<\/pre>\n
of darkness.\u201d Child of God, are you suffering in some dark trial? Has<\/pre>\n
some dark sickness taken its toll on your body? Is there some dark<\/pre>\n
calamity fallen over you and your family? God commands the light to<\/pre>\n
shine out of darkness.<\/pre>\n
All we have to do is remember what we were when Christ sent the gospel<\/pre>\n
to us. We were total darkness. As the world fell from how God originally<\/pre>\n
created it, so that it was without and form and void, so we fell from<\/pre>\n
how God created Adam so that the nature we received from Adam was only a<\/pre>\n
lifeless, formless, void. Our minds were darkness; our hearts were<\/pre>\n
darkness; our affections were darkness. But God, who commanded the light<\/pre>\n
to shine out of darkness in the beginning of this world, shined in our<\/pre>\n
hearts. Doing so, he gave us the light of the knowledge of the glory of<\/pre>\n
God in the face of Jesus Christ. For the first time, we saw God\u2019s glory<\/pre>\n
shining as the noon day sun. We saw it when, by faith, we saw the face<\/pre>\n
of the Lord Jesus Christ.<\/pre>\n
When we think what God did in giving us light to behold Christ, may it<\/pre>\n
remind us in whatever darkness has befallen us that God turns the water<\/pre>\n
of affliction into the wine of heavenly consolation. He makes poverty<\/pre>\n
riches and sickness health. Sometimes darkness is good in that it blinds<\/pre>\n
us from everything that is unnecessary. His light makes us focus on the<\/pre>\n
one thing needful. May God once again command the light to shine out of<\/pre>\n
darkness; may he shine in our hearts and give us light to behold that if<\/pre>\n
we have the Lord Jesus Christ then all is Light.<\/pre>\n
Clay Curtis.<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
BELIEVING IS NO SMALL THING!<\/pre>\n
Henry Mahan<\/pre>\n
To believe God is no small thing! It is the evidence of a heart<\/pre>\n
reconciled unto God; it is the proof of our being weaned from our own<\/pre>\n
works and deeds; it is a clear sign of the true conviction of sin; it is<\/pre>\n
honoring to Christ, our only Redeemer; it is the essence of true<\/pre>\n
worship; and it is the root of sincere obedience.<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
The person who believes God in spite of his sin and infirmities, who<\/pre>\n
believes God in spite of fleshly wisdom and opposition, who believes God<\/pre>\n
come what may, gives the Lord God more honor and glory than the cherubim<\/pre>\n
and seraphim in their continual adoration.<\/pre>\n
<\/pre>\n
DO YOU THINK FAITH A SMALL THING? How is it then that our Lord said, \"He<\/pre>\n
that believeth on the Son hath eternal life?\" How is it that a whole<\/pre>\n
nation perished in the wilderness because of UNBELIEF? How is it that we<\/pre>\n
are said to be \"justified by faith,\" and \"He that believeth not shall be<\/pre>\n
damned?\" Faith is the parent grace. Whatever you put in second place,<\/pre>\n
faith must have the first consideration; for it is not a small thing - -<\/pre>\n
IT IS YOUR LIFE! \"If you can believe, all things are possible to him<\/pre>\n
that believeth.\" John Flavel said, \"The soul is the life of the body.<\/pre>\n
Faith is the life of the soul. Christ is the life of faith.\"<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THEY ARE GONE! I want every child of God to realize the fact that at this very moment all of his sins are gone \u2013 effectually, completely, perfectly gone, – through the great sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of your sins, from the cradle to the grave, sins before conversion and sins after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bulletin-editions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4475"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4476,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4475\/revisions\/4476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}